Method of making shoes and heels



Nov. 1, 1932. N. HARIG 1,885,257

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES AND HEELS Filed March 23, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Nov. 1, 1932. N. HARlG METHOD OF MAKING SHOES AND HEELS Filed March 23,1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 1 1932 INTKOLAUS ARIG, orrmivmsnivs, rnLnwmngrnQennmnng Assien'on ,T'o UNi'rEn sHoE MACHINERYCORPORATION, Fv rnrn'nsoix new JERSEY, a oonronnrrron OF NEW JERSEYmmnon or MAKING sno'ns AND HEELS Application filed March 2a, 1928,Serial Matt a and in Germany Apri1 13, i927, 5

This invention relates to improvements in methods of making shoes and toimprovements in shoes and heelsaas articles of manufacture. Theinvention is herein illustrated in its application to one-piece Louisheels and shoes provided with such heels and'to methods of making suchheels and shoes, although incertain aspects the invention is notnecessarily restricted to heels or shoes of the particular typesindicated. It is customary to cover the rear and sides of a Louis heelbefore the heel is attached'to a shoe and, after attachment of the heel,to cover the breast of the heel by a flap integral with the sole of theshoe. In accordance with this practice the breast covering flap is pre-'l'i-minarilyj formed by splitting it from the sole and after the soleand heel have been attached to the shoe the sole flap is adhesivelysecured in place on the heel breast, trimmed flush with the lateraledges of the breast, and then held against the heel under pressure for asubstantial length of time to insure proper setting of the adhesive. Thecovering of the breast of a heel in this manner requires skilled laborand the expenditure of considerable time. Consequently, it is arelatively expensive operatic One object of the present invention is toavoid the expense and loss of time incident to the covering of breastsof heels in accordance with the method just referred to and yet toinsure that the effect obtained in the finished shoe will be as good asor better than would be the case if the more'expensive operation abovedescribed had been practised.

'With this object in viewthe invention, in one aspect, resides in animproved method of making shoes in accordance with which, as hereinexemplified, the desired eflect'in the finished shoe is obtained withoutthe use of a breast covering split from the sole of the shoe, by coatingthe bottom surface of the sole and the uncovered breastface of the heelto obliterate the joint between the heel breast and the sole and tosimulate the surface a'p' pearance of a heel'breast covering'integralwith thelsole, and by finishing a narrow strip at the side of the heel,adjacent to the breast corner to simulate the edge appearance of aheel'breast covering integral withtthesolje of the shoe. p y w Theinvention further consists in improvements in shoes produced by thepractice'of the above-described method and in improvements in Louisheels adapted for useincar rying out that method. 9

The invention will be explained withreference to the accompanying?drawings, in which i Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a shoeembodying the present'invention, the shoe being shown. as it appearsbefore certain'finishing'oper'ations have been performed'u'pon the soleand heel; 7 Fig. 2 is a perspective View ofthe .he'el showninFig.1;-

Fig. 3 is aside elevational view of the heel...

as it appears before the side covering.

applied; I v. Fig. 4- is a cross-sectional view taken along the lineIV-IVof Fig. 3; 1

- Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a: shoe that shown in Figs. 1 anda'nd2, but showing the shoe and heel as they appear after all finishingoperations have been performed thereon;

F 1g. 6 1s an enlarged CIOSS-SGCtlOIlfLl view of the heel taken alongthe line of the shoe taken substantially along the VIIIVIII of Fig. 7 v4 Fig. 9 isa perspective View of a heel illus} trating an alternativemethod of fitting the seat face of the heel;and v Fig. 10 is aperspective view of a shoe having its seat face fittedto receive a heelsuch as that shown in Fig.9. p In the drawings theiinventionfhas' beenillustrated in connection with one-piece heels as distinguished fromheels which are built up from a plurality of lifts or layers.

As illustrated in Figs. 3 and'a 'a Louisheel 14 is provided with grooves16 in its side faces for the reception of the front margins of acovering 18 for the rearand sides of the heel.

loo

theedges of a breast covering flap split from face formed in thewell-knownmanner upon bottom of the heel and are parallel to the lateraledges ofthe heel breast. The grooves 16 are located near but somewhatat'the rear substantiallyiequal tothethickness of the 5 of the edges orcorners of the breast so that when the sides of the heel are covered asby the covering 18. and the front margins of the of the' surface of theheel of the heel edges at the shank portion of the outsole of a shoe towhich the heel is to be attached. These narrow uncovered portions of theheel in front of the gr0oves 16a're finished to simulate the sole ofthe'shoeand laid upon the breast face of the heel as willhereinafter bemore fully explained. As illustrated in .Fig. 8, the.

edges of the outsoleare roundedalong the shank and, in. order to enhancethe effect that a sole flap covers thebreast of the heel, the

narrow uncovered portions orribs formed between the grooves 16 and thebreast cor ners, are slmilarly' rounded or beaded as shown at 20, Figs.3, 4 and 6, to correspond with the rounded cross-sectional contour of 1V the edges of the shank portion of the sole.

The seat face end of the-heel: has a cupped formation adapting it to fita heel seat surthe bottom of the shoe. The forwardly .eX-

tending portion of the heel at the upper end of thebreastisshownat 22 inFigs. 2 and 7 as being finished to a feather edge so that no noticeableridge will be formed where it joins a the sole and the heightwisecurvature of the heel breast'is made suchthatit will merge graduallyinto and blend with the longitudinall curveor arch of the shankportionof the sole as shown at 34 in Fig. 5. The grooves being parallelto the breast edges, the ribs or beads .20 will continue the lines orcurves of the sole'edges. At the opposite sides of the heel shown inFigs. 1 to 8, where the upper ends of they uncovered beaded portions 20terminate, the heel isso shaped that the upper ends ofthe'sebeadedportions will closely embrace the opposite edges of the outsole S inthema'nner clearly shown at 24 in Fig. 8, the sole: being preferablypared away or beveled during the heel seat .fitting operation at thesepoints to adapt it to fitsnugly within the rim ofthe' heel so that aclose joint is provided betweenthe rim of the heel and the. lasted-inportions of the shoe upper. In addition, the upper ends of the beadedportions 20 of the heelwhichembrace the edges of. the sole areillustrated in Fig.2 as being made very thin so that they will blendreadily with the rounded edges of the sole.

' 'Afterzthe'heelhas been attached to the shoethe breast face of-theheel and the beaded, edge faces 20 aresmoothed or buffed at 2 theirupper end portions until. they are flush into the grooves, then'ar withthe corresponding surfaces of the sole 7 along the lines where they jointhe latter, these lines being indicated at 26 in Fig.1. Thereafter theuncovered ribs or beaded p'or 1tions 20 ofthe heel and the breastsurface ofthe heel are preferablyfinished to match the finish of theedges and the treadsurface,

respectively, of the sole. In finishing the".

beaded portions of the heel the latter may be first stained or otherwisecolored to match the color of the edge of the sole after which they maybe waxed or otherwise treated, as-

for example with ---the edge finishingtool V which is used also uponthe'jsole edge, so that the color 'and surface characteristics of thesole edge are reproduced in the beaded portions of the heel. In;orderthat the breast surfaceofthe heel and the tread surface of the solefshall correspond in color a pigment finish mayv be applied both to thesole and to the heel breast. The above-described manner of finishing thebeadedportions and the breastfsurface of the heelresults in complete lyobliterating the lines 26 at the joint between the breast of the heeland the sole and as a result the sole edge at each ,side oftheshoeappearsto be continuous with the corresponding beaded portion oftheheel, while the tremor the heel andthe bottom ofthe shank of thesolealso appear tobe. continuous, as shown in Fig. 5, and the heel has;,theappearance of having its breast. covered by an extension of the sole; Ifdesired, variousornamental and pleasing resultsmaybe obtained byvapplying to the heel breastor to. the beaded portions 20,- or toboththese parts. a color finish either contrasting with the color of thesole bottom and sole edge or harmonizing with said color. V WVhile theforwardly extending upperend portion of the heelbreast may be reduced toa feather edge, as hereinbefore described, it

may sometimes be desirable to provide .;a

shoulder 31 of substantial thickness at'the' edge of thisportion oftheheel for engagement with a corresponding shoulder 32 in the outsoleof the shoe, as indicated in Fig.

11. In applyingto a shoe aheel -such as that shown in Fig. 10 theshoulder 31,0n :the heel is butted against the shoulder 32 on the soleand the breast surface 'of the heel and ;bot-' tom surface of-the soleare bufied until theseinvention, what .I

tirely across the heel at the front end of its seat face and with abreast surface having a heightwise curvature shaped to merge into thelengthwise curvature of the shank portion of the sole of a shoe,attaching the heel to a shoe so as to form a close joint between theupper portion of the heel breast and the sole of the shoe, applying acoating to both,

the bottom of the sole and the breast of the heel to obliterate saidjoint and simulate the appearance of the surface of a sole flap coveringthe heel breast, and finishing a narrow strip at each side of the heeladjacent to the respective breast corner to simulate the appearance ofthe edge of said sole flap.

2. That improvement in the art of making shoes which consists in fittinga Louis heel to a shoe so as to form a close joint between the upperportion of the heel breast and the bottom surface of the tread sole ofthe shoe, applying a coating to the bottom surface of 1 the sole and tothe uncovered breast face of the heel to obliterate said joint and tosimulate the surface appearance of a heel breast covering integral withthe sole of the shoe, and the heel adjacent to the breast corner tosimulate the edge appearance of a heel breast covering integral with thesole of the shoe.

3. That improvement in the art of making shoes which consists in forminga bead along the breast edge of each side of a Louis heel and a groovein each side of the heel adjacent to the bead at that side of the heel,applying a cover to the rear and sides of the heel and tucking theopposite lateral edge portions of the cover into said grooves butleaving said beads and the breast face of the heel uncovered, fittingthe heel to a shoe so as to form a close joint between the upper portionof the heel breast and the bottom surface of the tread sole of the shoe,applying a coating to the bottom surface of the sole and to theuncovered breast face of the heel to obliterate said joint and tosimulate the surface appearance of a heel breast covering integral withthe tread sole, and finishing said uncovered beads to match the edgefinish of the tread sole to simulate the edge appearance of a heelbreast covering integral with the tread sole.

4. In a shoe, the combination with the tread sole, of a Louis heelhaving an uncovered breast surface merging with the bottom surface ofsaid sole, and uncovered beads severally extending along the oppositelateral edges of the heel breast and merging with the respective lateraledges of the sole to simulate the edge appearance of a heel breastcovering integral with the tread sole, the sides of the heel beingcovered rearwardly of the breast edge beads, and said merging portionsof the sole and heel having a coating thereon obliterating the jointsbetween them and imparting a like surface finish to all said portions sothat said sole and heel portions will appear to be continuous.

5. A Louis heel having an uncovered breast surface, an uncovered beadextending along each lateral edge of the heel breast, and

a groove in each side of the heel adjacent to v the bead on that side ofthe heel, the breast surface and thebeads being shaped and ar- I rangedto merge with the bottom surface and N IKOLAUS HARIG.

finishing a narrow strip at the side of V

